The SQL Server driver and SQL Server impose the following programming limitations on the ODBC SQL grammar.
| ODBC SQL grammar | SQL Server/SQL Server driver limitation |
|---|---|
| Data-at-execution parameter limitations | Data-at-execution parameters that are used to send a lot of data for a SQL_LONGVARCHAR or SQL_LONGVARBINARY column are subject to a number of restrictions. For details, see the Data-at-Execution Parameter Limitations topic. |
| OUTER JOIN | When connected to SQL Server version 6.0 or earlier, the search condition for an outer join must be an equals condition (=). The ODBC outer join extension must appear last in the table reference list. SQL Server versions 6.0 and earlier do not support both nested outer joins and inner joins nested within an outer join. A table cannot be the inner table in an outer join and still participate in an inner join. A table cannot be the inner table in an outer join and the outer table in another outer join. A table can, however, participate in an inner join and be the outer table in an outer join. |
| Procedures | A procedure must be invoked as the first statement in a prepared batch of statements, or it must be invoked with the EXECUTE statement or by using the ODBC canonical procedure innovation. For details, see the Procedure Invocation Limitations topic. |